If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ. You'll find answers to the frequently asked questions as well as basic rules. No need to register unless you would like to participate, although some images will only show if you are registered/logged-in.

You will need to register
before you can post: click the red register link or the register tab, above, right.

The WoodenBoat Forum is sponsored by WoodenBoat Publications, publisher of WoodenBoat magazine since 1974. To get WoodenBoat delivered to your door or computer, mobile device of choice, etc, click WB Subscriptions.

Selling/self promotion postings are verboten on the Forum. To advertise, take a look at WoodenBoat Advertising, or use your Google Adwords account if you want to advertise on the Forum.

Re: Oz Politics.

Originally Posted by WX

Well he spent most of the war there so it doesn't surprise me.

Typical leftie exaggeration.

4 months.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

A correct original comment, without the negative implications, would have been my preference.

Perhaps you should have tried approaching life from the perspective of being right about things, rather than slagging Menzies reputation?

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

Menzies reputation is a matter of perspective and opinion I'd say. But he was a man of his times and though a leftie by todays Lib standards as ambitious and unprincipled as any other politician. Then or now.
I don't hold with not speaking ill of a dead politician myself.

Re: Oz Politics.

Originally Posted by skuthorp

Menzies reputation is a matter of perspective and opinion I'd say. But he was a man of his times and though a leftie by todays Lib standards as ambitious and unprincipled as any other politician. Then or now.
I don't hold with not speaking ill of a dead politician myself.

It wasn't so much speaking ill of a dead politician, as it was just a total fabrication. Like I said... typical leftie rubbish.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

I note from the Oz this morning that the Chinese government is somewhat miffed about the legislation forbidding OS funding of Aussie political parties and politicians. Threatening to make life difficult for Aussie business in China.
Imagine that, not being allowed to buy an Aussie political party?

Re: Oz Politics.

Originally Posted by skuthorp

I note from the Oz this morning that the Chinese government is somewhat miffed about the legislation forbidding OS funding of Aussie political parties and politicians. Threatening to make life difficult for Aussie business in China.
Imagine that, not being allowed to buy an Aussie political party?

Who'd a thunk it...

(no link, paywall)

Morrison on ABC radio I had to turn him off.

The Chinese are just miffed that their ability to question the heads of our defence force has been stifled somewhat.

What was it? 113 or 115 detailed questions asked of the heads of the defence force by Shanghai Sam in Senate Estimates committees?

Filthy Labor slimebag that he is. He should be turfed out of the Labor Party on his ear... left to sit on the cross benches and fly his red flag - next to the commie Greens. Nah, Shifty Bill needs his numbers. Principles be damned. Labor's win at any cost on show again.

Meanwhile, the unions are getting ready to insert their hand into Shifty Bill, their sock puppet. They want a softening of the industrial relations laws. Anna Burke has already said it's OK to break the law. Now she wants the law that says you can't strike if you have contravened the Industrial Commission's rulings watered down. More commie wreckingball stuff.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

You have your position, others have theirs. The border swings right and left as it always has. Elections are usually lost rather than won in Aus. what comes around goes around and it will again, with or without Chinese money for either side.
Sam is toast, he won't get preselection next time. And many governments have held their noses for the sake of a vote before.
"Slimebags, shifty Bill, Shanghai Sam" the usual stuff of low standard political name calling to impress the rubes.

Re: Oz Politics.

The Chinese are just miffed that their ability to question the heads of our defence force has been stifled somewhat.

What was it? 113 or 115 detailed questions asked of the heads of the defence force by Shanghai Sam in Senate Estimates committees?

Filthy Labor slimebag that he is. He should be turfed out of the Labor Party on his ear... left to sit on the cross benches and fly his red flag - next to the commie Greens. Nah, Shifty Bill needs his numbers. Principles be damned. Labor's win at any cost on show again.

Meanwhile, the unions are getting ready to insert their hand into Shifty Bill, their sock puppet. They want a softening of the industrial relations laws. Anna Burke has already said it's OK to break the law. Now she wants the law that says you can't strike if you have contravened the Industrial Commission's rulings watered down. More commie wreckingball stuff.

I'm surprised you didn't insert untermensch into the label.

My take is that if you poke someone with a sharp stick they'll get annoyed, if you smile and shake their hand they will be your friends.

Bigfella represents everything wrong with politics at the moment, the kind of rusted on political allegiance that shows no real thought other than 'my side good, other side bad' like some drunk footy team supporter yelling abuse at the other team.

Fortunately the world is moving on and these kind of fossils are slowly dying out and being replaced by a much more thoughtful and intelligent breed who can see pro's and cons in each side's arguements and cut through at least some of the political spin to the individual issues. This will be bad news for the two party system in Australia, and good riddance. The sooner we get some form of proportional representation the better.

Re: Oz Politics.

Originally Posted by Snow Pea

Bigfella represents everything wrong with politics at the moment, the kind of rusted on political allegiance that shows no real thought other than 'my side good, other side bad' like some drunk footy team supporter yelling abuse at the other team.

Fortunately the world is moving on and these kind of fossils are slowly dying out and being replaced by a much more thoughtful and intelligent breed who can see pro's and cons in each side's arguements and cut through at least some of the political spin to the individual issues. This will be bad news for the two party system in Australia, and good riddance. The sooner we get some form of proportional representation the better.

Every kid in the race is a winner, eh?

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

Major glee in Parliament House, and a much better candidate for the national anthem. It may go some way to improving the public's opinion of the institution, but only if the pollies take some lessons from the occasion.

The wedding industry is due for a boost, cake makers included if they wish to .

Re: Oz Politics.

A system where close to half of voters are not represented by a member with sympathy for their position is not a good one. Hare Clark or something like NZ's MMP would be far, far better.

Your ignorance of the Australian political system is astounding, unfortunately, your commentary is in inverse proportion.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

Originally Posted by PeterSibley

Three cheers all around !

Three cheers for those who achieved the change.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

After six years of Green / Labor inaction, it was good to see the LibNats get it done.... despite all the whinging (including from you).

So, let's be more specific. Three cheers for the Liberal National Party Coalition. You'd cheer along to that, wouldn't you?

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

Originally Posted by WX

It could have been done a lot sooner and a lot cheaper.

Of course it could have - but the opposition parties wouldn't allow it to be. That'd be the parties of hate... Labor and the Greens. The result was delivered by the LibNats, but, I doubt the haters will acknowledge that.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

Originally Posted by The Bigfella

Of course it could have - but the opposition parties wouldn't allow it to be. That'd be the parties of hate... Labor and the Greens. The result was delivered by the LibNats, but, I doubt the haters will acknowledge that.

Re: Oz Politics.

Originally Posted by WX

Its interesting to see which companies apparently made no taxable income.

Is that because you like seeing those who invest more in the future (thereby gaining deductions)?

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

Gotta rush blindly to their defence? Your capacity for critical analysis was displayed for all to see with your recent "Time" thread. Like I said - blind.

The fact remains - it was the LibNats who delivered on SSM.

The result is in the book.

Your team failed to deliver it.

Labor - Nay

Greens - Nay

LibNats - as Gary says, the ayes have it.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

Not long ago, Andrew Leigh, the opposition assistant Treasury spokesman and spokesman on competition, told us that “Australia’s markets are more concentrated than those in comparable countries” — and, brace yourself, “the problem is getting worse”.

Moreover, the “general trend” to greater concentration, and the monopoly profits it showers on big business, has “played a part in the steady rise in inequality”.

As I pointed out at the time, the data on which Leigh relied was highly questionable (“Evidence doesn’t justify more regulation,” The Australian, May 30, 2016). Now an important report by the Grattan Institute’s Jim Minifie demolishes Leigh’s claims brick by brick.

“Large firms,” the Grattan report finds, “are not unusually dominant” in Australia, nor have their revenues “grown faster than GDP”. Their profitability “has not risen much since 2000”. And while rates of return are relatively high in some pockets of the economy, concentration levels and barriers to entry play almost no role in determining them.

Moreover, comparing the report’s results to other studies, Australian investors expect high returns to be dissipated more quickly than has generally been the case for the advanced economies, driving profit rates down to normal levels.

As for crippling our economy, the report concludes that even entirely eliminating excess profits would increase the welfare of Australians by only tiny fractions of 1 per cent of GDP. In fact, the report’s estimates of the costs any lack of competition imposes on the Australian economy seem well below the amount we spend on enforcing and complying with the competition laws.

That doesn’t mean Rod Sims, who chairs the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, should fear (or prepare to celebrate) losing his job. After all, without a vigilant regulator keeping them honest, the harm dominant firms impose might skyrocket, though that seems unlikely in an age in which virtually every market risks being up-ended by internet-savvy customers.

But it does mean that the incessant demonisation of big business entirely misses the mark. In competitive economies, firms do not earn high returns by bleeding consumers dry or by throwing sand into each others’ gearbox; rather, they prosper by identifying, developing and supplying products that we value vastly more than they cost to produce.

That the US so regularly spawns hugely profitable firms such as Google, Walmart and Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is therefore anything but a sign of weakness; on the contrary, it is the surest evidence of American capitalism’s enduring vitality.
What Australia needs is many more firms that can and do reward investors handsomely thanks to their superior skill and acumen, not fewer.

Those points apply with as much force to banking, which has been 2017’s whipping boy of the year, as they do to the rest of the economy.

Here, too, myths abound. No, the Australian banking sector is not more concentrated than its counterparts in similar countries overseas; net interest margins, which reflect the difference between banks’ average lending and borrowing rates, are not especially high; and the spread between mortgage rates and the Reserve Bank’s cash rate is not unusually great. So, too, with the extent of competition: not only are rumours of its demise greatly exaggerated but the rapidly growing role of brokers in helping consumers optimise their finances is lowering switching costs and placing increased pressure on the major banks.

Indeed, if firms in the finance sector are willing to pay so much for the specialised skills they require, it is not because they are wallowing in monopoly rents but because a more complex and competitive environment makes those skills more valuable than they used to be.

Could banking be made even more competitive?

Perhaps. But be careful what you wish for. As Spain’s Xavier Vives, one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject, argues in his recent book Competition and Stability in Banking, there is a real trade-off between increasing the extent of rivalry and ensuring the banking system is robust and resilient.

“By increasing competitive pressure,” Vives warns, “we will reach a point where the benefits balance with (the risks of) increased fragility, and further increases will be socially harmful.”

Whether we are already at that point is controversial. What is certain, however, is that the greatest obstacle to competition in Australian banking lies in the quagmire of regulation that stifles incumbents and entrants alike. How that quagmire formed is no mystery: over the past five years alone there have been 29 separate reviews of banking by the various arms of government; so as to justify its existence, each and every one of them has recommended piling further regulations on.

It would be nice to think that the new royal commission will reverse the trend. Unfortunately, given the circumstances of its birth, it is far likelier that it will merely add to what is rapidly becoming a regulatory Sargasso Sea — an immense, turgidly revolving mass of regulatory debris, in which our financial institutions will moulder as they await the death blow that eventually causes them to sink.

No doubt that day will come. But a sensible debate on Grattan’s findings may help put it off, not least by focusing attention on those parts of the economy that really do need an injection of competition: most obviously, public schools and hospitals, where poor performance endures because more efficient suppliers cannot displace their less efficient rivals.

Whether Leigh is open to that debate remains to be seen. And it also remains to be seen whether he will retract claims he made that are simply incorrect.

Quoting Keynes, Leigh likes to say that when the facts change, he changes his mind. Well, here’s his chance to prove it.

...........

Good, eh? Yeah, I know, those of you who need it most won't read it. Never mind. I tried.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime" Mark Twain... so... Carpe the living sh!t out of the Diem
I'd rather look back at my life and say "I can't believe I did that" instead of being there saying "I wish I'd done that"

Re: Oz Politics.

Originally Posted by The Bigfella

Is that because you like seeing those who invest more in the future (thereby gaining deductions)?

You want to support these leeches go right ahead. The ATO says these companies are not paying tax, companies like MYOB..zero taxable income for some reason. Also a not so surprising number of companies with the word coal in their name...zero tax.
Oh and your old mate Rupert, zero tax paid. This all benefits the country how? See if you can answer that without making some welfare slur.

My take is that if you poke someone with a sharp stick they'll get annoyed, if you smile and shake their hand they will be your friends.